Compassion through anger

Feeling an angry reaction to hearing about something or someone awful is natural. The news taps on our survival and protective instincts and we immediately want to right a wrong.

But one side, one bit of information, one rumor is not enough to make an accurate decision of what really happened.

If the reaction is carried out, a person may scold another, shame another, or cause physical violence to another. Anger begets anger.

If you feel angry after hearing something, say, some gossip about a friend, find out more before reacting. By finding out more, you are seeking to understand. By understanding, you can develop compassion for why that person said or did what they did, if they even did it at all.

That compassion is what will dissolve that anger, and stop it from continuing and growing.

Even if you don't end up feeling like you'd do the same thing under the same circumstances, you can likely still understand why they did, and the reasons are usually more logical that not. Judging a person based on an action means to condemn them without learning the whole story, and that's definitely not something you'd want someone to ever do to you. It would seem and be totally unfair.